The rescue of Chilean miners recalls an earlier rescue

A wonderful story. A leader emerged who "rallied the troops" to cooperate in a disciplined survival regimen. A strong leader is crucial in desperate circumstances, but command-and-control leadership is less effective when conditions are not so dire. The President of Chile also contributed to the general air of competence in response to this emergency.

An interesting perspective on the miner rescue from Daniel Henninger: Capitalism saved the miners.

Some will recoil at these triumphalist claims for free-market capitalism. Why make them now?

Here's why. When a catastrophe like this occurs—others that come to mind are the BP well blowout, Hurricane Katrina, various disasters in China—a government has all its chips pushed to the center of the table. Chile succeeds (it rebuilt after the February earthquake with phenomenal speed). China flounders. Two American administrations left the public agog as they stumbled through the mess.

Still, what the political class understands is that all such disasters wash away eventually, and that life in a developed nation reverts to a tolerable norm. . .

Chile has a new American hero from the private sector.  But NASA, a U.S. government agency, provided a lot of help in Chile, too.  Somehow, the flexible Chileans seemed to be able to coordinate government and private help.

 Wretchard recalls another dramatic rescue of 33 men which required perhaps even greater flexibility in the responses of the rescuers, not to mention extraordinary courage on the part of some of them.